Cherish All The Children – a Documentary about our Groundbreaking Founders

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“A one hour documentary that tells the story of brave single mothers who took on the government.”

Cherish All The Children is the remarkable story of One Family’s founders; those brave women who refused to give up their children for adoption 40 years ago. They formed Cherish, changed the law on illegitimacy and fought to get a single parent’s allowance.

Cherish was set up by single parents, for single parents and the documentary features interviews with our core founders Maura O’Dea Richards, Margaret Murphy, Evelyn Forde and Annette Hunter Evans who share their personal experiences and the challenges of being pregnant and single in Ireland four decades ago. It also features first President of Cherish, Mary Robinson, and Nuala Feric and Anna Lee, first staff members; with other contributors including CEO of One Family Karen Kiernan and Director of Policy, Stuart Duffin.

Cherish/One Family has brought about massive social and legal change for both parents and children since its foundation in a time when unmarried mothers were encouraged to give their ‘illegitimate’ babies up for adoption and to ‘mend their ways’; a time when contraception was unavailable and abortion unmentionable.

Cherish All The Children explores how Cherish was responsible for changing the law on illegitimacy and the abolition of that term, and for successfully campaigning for the introduction of a Single Parent’s Allowance.

The documentary was first broadcast on Today FM on Sunday 29 December 2013 at 9am. You can listen to it online here.

Contributors:

  • Mary Robinson: first President of Cherish
  • Maura O’Dea Richards, Margaret Murphy, Evelyn Forde, Annette Hunter Evans: founder members of Cherish
  • Nuala Feric and Anna Lee: first staff members of Cherish
  • Minister Frances Fitzgerald
  • Fintan O’Toole: Irish Times journalist and social commentator
  • Karen Kiernan, CEO One Family (formerly Cherish)
  • Stuart Duffin, Director Policy & Programmes One Family (formerly Cherish)

Credits:

  • Producer/ Presenter: Hilary Fennell
  • Editor: Daragh Dukes
  • Funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the Television Licence Fee

One Family Welcomes 2014 as the 20th Anniversary of the UN Year of the Family

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2014 is the 20th anniversary of the United Nations International Year of the Family. One Family has been working to mark this anniversary and marks the UN International Day of the Family every year here in Ireland.

One Family has signed up to the Declaration of the Civil Society on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the International Year of the Family.

We have developed links in relation to this anniversary and attended the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development (DIIFSD), The International Federation for Family Development (IFFD) and the Committee of the Regions of the European Union in cooperation with the Focal Point on the Family (UNDESA) European Expert Group Meeting ‘Confronting family poverty and social exclusion; ensuring work-family balance; advancing social integration and intergenerational solidarity’ as preparations for and observance of the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family in 2014, in Europe.

We also founded a campaigning coalition called All Families Matter and we are seeking a progressive review of the Constitution in relation to the family.

Proposed activities to mark 2014 as the 20th Anniversary of the UN International Year of the Family

We are calling on the Government to designate a national Family Day.

15 May is the annual UN International Day of the Family and One Family requests that Minister Fitzgerald designates the nearest Sunday as a national Family Day in Ireland. In much the same way as we mark Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, we would like Family Day to also be celebrated. Our annual Family Day Festival will be held on 18 May 2014 again in the Iveagh Gardens and we will be again promoting our call to ‘Celebrate your family – Celebrate all families’ through all the schools, community and voluntary groups in Ireland.

We believe that this cost-neutral designation will send a powerful message to all families that this country respects and celebrates the reality of their lives through this national Family Day.

We are seeking support to hold a seminar to mark a number of significant reforms in relation to family life in Ireland. In a relatively short space of time the legal and social landscape in relation to families will change. Reforms that we are aware of include:

–         The establishment of the Child & Family Agency

–         Reform of the Family Law Courts

–         Introduction of the Child & Family Relationships Bill

–         Commitment to a referendum on marriage equality in 2015

–         Social welfare reforms impacting on childcare, parenting responsibilities and family life.

2014 may provide an opportune time to reflect on these changes and to work towards a Constitutional reform of the definition of family which will inevitably be required at some stage. A conference or seminar will provide a forum for people to learn more about reforms and to look forward to a new vision of how our laws and policies can reflect the reality of the diversity of family life in Ireland today.

One Family also plans to highlight the year with a number of other smaller events which will be kicked off by a radio documentary on the founding of our organisation over 40 years ago which will be aired at 9am on Sunday 29 December on Today FM.

New Report Proves Marriage is not Responsible for Children’s Well-being

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Press Release

New Report Proves Marriage is not Responsible for Children’s Well-being

(Dublin, Friday 20 December 2013) One Family, Ireland’s leading organisation for one-parent families, welcomes the launch today of the report ‘Growing Up in a One-Parent Family’, a study by researchers at the University of Limerick using the ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ data, published by the Family Support Agency.

A key finding of the study indicates that children from one-parent families and cohabiting families fare the same as children from married families when faced with similarly difficult conditions growing up. This is most detailed statistical study to date of the effects of family structure on child development, and concludes that the traditionally perceived benefits of marriage in relation to child development are not a result of marriage itself but of the parent or parents’ background.

Karen Kiernan, CEO of One Family, states: “This study confirms what One Family has known for years, based on our 41 years of experience working with one-parent families and our evidence-based knowledge, that it is not the legal structure of a family that is important to a child’s well-being but the substance of the family and the relationships within it. However, lone parents in Ireland continue to experience the highest rates of poverty and it is impoverishment that is proven to adversely affect a child’s future. We will continue in our vital work towards ending disadvantage for lone parents and their children.”

While the report also found that, despite controlling for school context and a variety of background factors, children from never-married one-parent families and cohabiting families did less well in their educational performance, it states that they are also more likely to be attending a disadvantaged – DEIS – school. Education and progression opportunities for parents are a core part of One Family’s work towards breaking the cycle of disadvantage.

The report ‘Growing Up in a One-Parent Family:The Influence of Family Structure on Child Outcomes’ is available to read/download here.

Notes for Editors:

  • 1 in 4 families with children in Ireland is a one-parent family
  • Over half a million people live in one-parent families in Ireland
  • Almost 1 in 5 children (18.3%) live in a one-parent family (Census 2011)
  • There are over 215,000 one-parent families in Ireland today (25.8% of all families with children; Census 2011)
  • 87,586 of those are currently receiving the One-Parent Family Payment
  • Those living in lone parent households continue to experience the highest rates of deprivation with almost 56% of individuals from these households experiencing one or more forms of deprivation (EU-SILC 2011)

About One Family

One Family was founded in 1972 and is Ireland’s leading organisation for one-parent families offering support, information and services to all members of all one-parent families, to those experiencing an unplanned pregnancy and to those working with one-parent families. Children are at the centre of One Family’s work and the organisation helps all the adults in their lives, including mums, dads, grandparents, step-parents, new partners and other siblings, offering a holistic model of specialist family support services. These services include the lo-call askonefamily national helpline on 1890 622 212, counselling, and provision of training courses for parents and for professionals. One Family also promotes Family Day, an annual celebration of the diversity of families in Ireland today, with 10,000 people attending events this year on 19 May (www.familyday.ie). For further information, visit www.onefamily.ie.

Available for Interview

Karen Kiernan, CEO | t: 01 662 9212 or 086 850 9191

Further Information/Scheduling

Shirley Chance, Director of Communications | t: 01 662 9212 or 087 414 8511

 

One Family Winter Party

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Our annual Winter Party for current clients and their children took place yesterday in the beautiful Dublin Castle. It was great fun with almost 100 children and their families enthralled by master magician, Brian Daly.  Little faces were painted by our creative staff team; and all kinds of amazing balloon animals and toys created by Cathyrn Alexander. And when Santa arrived there was even more excitement!

Santa had help to fill the One Family Grotto this year with hundreds of toys and gifts collected by the staff of these generous companies to whom we, and Santa and Mrs Claus, are incredibly grateful:

Google: Thank you to Lorna Mellon and Sinéad Gibney and all the Googlers.

Chartered Accountants: Thank you to Gillian Duffy and all the Chartered Accountants team.

Capita Life Pensions: Thank you to Deirdre Lennon and all the Capital Life Pensions team.

HRM Recruit: Thank you to Kasia Bik and all the HRM Recruit team.

Maples and Calder: Thank you to Yvonne Madden and all the Maples and Calder team.

A & L Goodbody: Thank you to Sinéad Smith and all the A & L Goodbody team.

Trinity Access Programme Foundation: Thank you to Sarah Grimson and all of the students.

We are also very grateful to everyone who donated prizes for the parents’ raffle including Jinny Joe’s Baby Massage and Yoga, Tesco Jervis Centre and to Kenna’s Centra, Laurel Lodge who donated goody bags for the children.

Huge thanks to volunteers Cathryn Alexander for ballon modelling and face painting, to Paul Leamy for assisting Santa, and to all One Family staff and volunteers.

Thank you also to Darren Lennox and the Operations team at Dublin Castle Conference Centre for their help in co-ordinating such a wonderful event.

Lastly, thank you to all the children and their families for joining us for the festivities!

Convention on the Constitution Announces Topics for Review

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The Convention on the Constitution has just announced that it has chosen Dáil Reform and Economic, Social and Cultural rights for discussion at their final two meetings in February 2014. It is noted that the Family is included as one of the other prominent topics throughout the process and that “it is likely that the Convention members will take the opportunity to make a recommendation early next year on how these issues might be addressed in the future.”

While we are disappointed at today’s announcement, we look forward to engaging with the Convention in the future.

You can read the Convention press release here.

For further information on the campaign All Families Matter, which calls for a review of the Family in our Constitution, click here.